Brassiere



June 11, 1963 H. M. PLEHN 3,093,139

BRASSIERE Filed Feb. 24, 1961 INVENTOR. HENRY M, FLEJ-IN ATTO RN EY This invention relates generally to brassieres, and, in particular to a brassiere in combination with a reinforcing inner cup as well as to a breast-supporting cup in combination with a reinforcing inner cup.

The general object of the invention is to provide a novel breast-supporting accessory to a womans wearing apparel, especially, but not necessarily, to a bathing suit; and the general object envisions a brassiere having the usual cups and means within such cups for removably securing reinforcing inner cups when desired; inner reinforcing cups adapted to be removably secured within the usual cups of such a brassiere; and a combination of a single breast-supporting cup, not part of a brassiere, having means for removably securing therein an inner cup to reinforce the former.

A particular object of the invention is the provision of a brassiere the cups of which may readily be strengthened and the supporting functions thereof readily enhanced by the simple addition, within the aforesaid cups, of specially reinforcing cups, as well as the provision of means for removably securing such reinforcing cups within the cups that are integral with the brassiere.

While the product of the invention is not limited to use in connection with womens bathing suits, it is specially well suited for such use, as it may be, in substance, a strapless brassiere wherein all artificial breast-supporting and forming (except that trifling support and forming provided by the fabric of the bathing suit itself) is provided by the cup structure, which may be of material or materials outstandingly resistant to the action of water.

It may be said here that the combinations of the invention involving a brassiere (probably strapless) and removably secured reinforcing cups carried within the ordinary cups of the brassiere, or of breast-supporting and forming cups and such removably secured reinforcing cups carried therein, may well be an integral part of a bathing suit the general fabric of which is not specially suited for the functions of brassieres, although herein no claim to the present breast-supporting and forming structure in combination with a bathing suit is made.

It is a well-known physiological fact that the tensile strength of the supporting as well as forming muscles of the female breasts are either weakened, or that such muscles are more or less alternated, during menstrual periods and, particularly, when actual lactation obtains; and that a brassiere cup quite suitable in strength for its supporting and forming functions at other times, may, at the times mentioned, be too weak adequately to perform its desired functions. Thus, the present invention is of particular utility in that it provides, at the times needed, additional tensile strength for a brassiere cup; and that the means employed for fortifying a conventional cup may be readily added and readily removed. Furthermore, an otherwise well fitting garment may necessitate a different breast cup structure than that normally provided in such garment.

A feature of the present invention is that the structure thereof is applicable to a conventional brassiere with both shoulder and thorax-engirdling straps, a brassiere with only thorax-engirdling straps, or hands, a brassiere without straps of any kind, and to breast-supporting and forming cups separate from each other. It is hardly necessary to add that the present structure is useful in connection with any torso-encircling government which includes, as part thereof, a brassiere.

assists Patented June 11, 1963 Accordingly, the primary innovation herein is the combination of a breast-supporting and form-ing cup, a reinforcing cup adapted to nest therein, and means for securely, but removably, connecting the two cups together.

Other features are that the means for removably securing the inner reinforcing cup within the outer cup are extremely simple, yet reliable and durable, and invisible from the convex side of the outer cup, as well as being of such shape and so little bulk as to be practically impossible for the wearer to feel; and, since any article of apparei of the nature described is at least commercially required to be washable, any outer cup or inner reinforcing cup with the means for removably securing the latter within the former envisioned herein are capable of being cleaned in the usual manner with soap and water and also are substantially impervious to the action of sea water, and of bodily secretions normally to be expected. Such means, described above, may be adequately constructed without the use of metal as part thereof, an obvious advantage where such means are subject to various conditions of humidity.

In the foregoing the inner cup has been generally referred to as reinforcing the outer cup; but it will be readily understood that the inner cup-having any substance whatsoever, is necessarily a pad; and that it may be thin and strong or thick and spongy, as desired.

These, and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be more fully understood from the following description, and from the drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is an inside elevational view of a panel of convenient, but arbitrary periphery, to which the left and right usual cups of a brassiere are permanently attached, with the left hand permanent cup shown without a reinforcing inner cup nesting therein and with the right hand permanent cup all but obscured by a reinforcing inner cup nesting therein;

FIG. 2 is an exploded anterior-posterior sectional elevation, partly erased, and substantially at to FIG. 1, showing part of the panel and one permanent cup attached thereto and, slightly removed, a reinforcing inner cup adapted to nest into and to be removably secured within such permanent cup; and

FIG. 3 is the anterior-posterior sectional elevation 33 of FIG. 1 partly erased, showing part of the panel, one permanent cup attached thereto, and a reinforcing inner cup nesting in and removably secured to such permanent cup.

The present invention may be reason-ably expected to form part of a brassiere structure in most cases where used, but the essence of the invention may be fully set forth by a description and illustration of the relationship of an outer cup to a reinforcing inner cup nesting therein and removably secured thereto. Thus, the drawing shows, in FIG. 1, a panel 10 serving mainly to hold the two usual breast cups together or in ordinary relationship to each other as would obtain in the usual brassiere, may be part of any style of brassiere, with or without straps or bands or other associated parts, such as torso-encircling constructions having corset-like functions; and, in fact, the panel, as will be shown below, might be dispensed with entirely. However, for convenience herein, the left hand permanent cup in FIG. 1 is generally designated 11, and the right hand permanent cup in the same figure, although largely obscured, is indexed 12. In FIG. 1, which, as has been said, is an inside elevational view, a reinforcing inner cup 13 is shown nesting in and removably secured to right had permanent cup 12-which is the reason that so little of cup 12 is visible. FIG, 1 serves as an illustration comparing the inside aspect of an unreinforced permanent cup (cup 11) to that of a reinforced permanent cup (cup 12); and also as an elevational view of 3 that part of the securing means forming part of a permanent cup (cup 11).

As shown in FIG. 1, the panel 10 actually comprises a top portion 14 of a suitable and presumably closely woven fabric, and a bottom portion 15, which may be of the same material, separated by a more or less resilient web 16 of what might well be a honeycomb fabric, woven or knitted, and which latter serves not only the function of connecting the portions 14 and 15 together at their sides and in the middle of the panel 10, but also the function of connecting the permanent cups 11 and 12 to the panel, as shown, and as is fairly customary in the art.

Permanent cups 11 and 12 are the usual partial spheroids, and while they are both presumed to be made of four three-sided fabric segments-a common construction illustrated in FIG. I particularly with respect to cup 11their actual construction, as conventional cups, is not critical. Secured permanently in any suitable manner to the inner side of each permanent cup is an elongated sheath 17, preferably quite arrow, open at the top and which may be either closed or open at the bottom, and which extends from near the top of the cup to the nipple-receiving part, or general center, of the cup. The sheath is preferably made of the same fabric as that of the cup itself, but need not be, and is preferably secured to the inside of the cup by two rows 18 of suitably strong stitching joining each side of the sheath to the cup. In FIG. 1 the sheath 17 and its rows 18 of stitching are fully illustrated only in cup 11; the outline of sheath 17 of cup 12 is indicated by dotted lines because the sheath is wholly obscured by reinforcing inner cup 13.

Obviously, the presence of the sheaths 17 in the two cups of a brassiere need be scarcely palpable to the wearer of the accessory, for, if the sheath is of the same material as the cup itself, its securing stitching 18 should be no more noticeable than the necessary joining stitching of the segments comprising the partially spheroid cup.

The permanent cups 11 and 12 are other-hand to each other-the brassiere shown being, as usual, a symmetrical structure, but cups 11 and 12 are otherwise alike. Accordingly the two reinforcing inner cups adapted to nest within and to be removably secured to the permanent cups are also other-hand to each other and otherwise alike. Only one reinforcing inner cupcup 13is shown; its counterpart for permanent cup 11 may be readily visualized.

FIG. 2 is not the section 33 of FIG. 1, but is an exploded view, partly erased and a vertical anterior-posterior section corresponding to the plane and direction of view of section 33 of FIG. 1; and has as its object the illustration of a permanent cup (eg. 12) as it appears in the class of section described without a reinforcing inner cup nesting and removably secured therein, but such a last-named cup (eg 13) is shown, in vertical section taken on the same plane slightly removed from the permanent cup for which it is adapted. The two cups forming the figure are bracketed together.

If the sheath 17 of a permanent cup is empty, as shown in both FIGS. 1 and 2, and is made of a fabric similar to that of the cup, and stitched, as described above, to the cup, the fabric of the cup and the fabric of the sheath will ordinarily be in more or less intimate contact with each other, as shown in FIG. 2, and no space between the two fabrics would be commonly expected to appear. To distinguish the fabric of permanent cup 12 (FIGS. 2 and 3) from that of the sheath 17 opposite systems of crosshatching have been adopted in the drawing.

An inner reinforcing cup, such as 13, may be nearly a duplicate of the permanent cup into which it is to nest and to which it is to be removably secured; or such an inner reinforcing cup may be of thicker fabric, stronger fabric, or sponge rubber, or of various other materials suitable to the results sought to be obtained. It has already been said that an inner reinforcing cup having any thickness whatever is necessarily a pad; and, accordingly, the inner reinforcing cup may be used both to strengthen the regular breast supponting, and forming cup to which it relates and to add to the apparent size of the breast. However, herein, cup 13 is presumed to be a thin pad, and its slightly greater thickness of wall than that of its associated cup 12 is mainly for purposes of distinctive illustration.

Fixed to the convex surface of any inner reinforcing cup such as 13, and at the top, or substantially at the top, thereof, is a tongue 19, preferably of thin narrow plastic, extending downwardly free of such convex surface (purposefully exaggerated for illustrative purposes in FIG. 2) to a point near the center of the cup. The tongue 19 may be anchored at its upper end in any suitable manner to the convex surface of cup 13; nothing, however, but an arbitrary fabric patch 20, overlying the extreme upper portion of tongue 19 appears in the drawing (in section, necessarily, in FIGS. 2 and 3), the patch being presumed to be stitched to the convex surface of cup 13 around and through the tongue to secure the latter in place and to prevent its getting out of alignment laterally. The tongue 19 may be roughed on its anterior and posterior surfaces in suitable manner (one or more lines of stitching, not shown, along the length of the tongue is satisfactory; the object is to give the tongue a coarse front and back surface), and the tongue is shaped to be received within a sheath 18 as of cup 12. The inner reinforcing cup 13 has already been described as adapted to nest within cup 12, and, due to the considerable friction between the inside of cup 12 and the outside of cup 13, it will be readily understood that the elementary coupling provided by tongue 19 and sheath 17 is quite adequate to insure the proper nesting of the two cups. Also corrugating the front and back surfaces of tongue 19 tends to prevent any slipping of the tongue within the sheath.

At the top of the concave side of cup 13 a suitable tab 21 (all figures) may be provided for withdrawing the cup from nesting engagement.

In FIG. 3, the section 33 of FIG. 1the section being a partly erased figureinner reinforcing cup 13 is shown nesting in and removably secured to regular cup 12, and the tongue 19 is seen to be contained within the sheath 17. For purposes of clarity, the cross-hatching indicating the section of cup 13 used in FIGS. 2 and 3 is distinctive; it will be noted in the drawing that the crosshatching of the fabric of cup 12 is opposite to that of the fabric of sheath 17, and that the cross-hatching of the fabric of cup 13 is different from the other two systems of cross-hatching.

Generically the invention consists in one breast supporting and forming cup having an inside sheath, such as 17, and a reinforcing inner cup adapted to nest in the former, and to be removably securable thereto by means of a tongue such as 19. The use of the combination just set forth is covered herein whether the ordinary breastsupporting and forming cup with its sheath and the nesting cup with its tongue is a single unit or two units used in connection with any kind of brassiere, as will appear in the appended claims; and the materials of the regular, or outer cup, of the reinforcing, padding, and nesting cup, of the sheath, and of the tongue, as well as of associated brassiere parts, if any, is immaterial.

I claim:

1. A breast-supporting and forming cup having an inside sheath extending from the upper part thereof substantially to the center thereof, and another cup adapted to nest within the former cup, and to be removably secured thereto, said other cup being formed of a reinforcing material and having a tongue disposed near the top of its convex side attached to the upper part thereof and extending freely therefrom substantially to the center thereof, with said tongue formed of a flexible plastic strip with corrugated edges adapted to frictionally engage the inside of said sheeth.

2. A brassiere comprising two spaced breast-supporting and forming cups each thereof having an inside sheath extending from the upper part thereof substantially to the center thereof, and two other cups each adapted to nest within one of said first-named cups, and to he removably secured thereto, each of said other cups having a resilient tongue attached to the upmr part thereof and extending freely therefrom substantially to the center thereof, and adapted to be frictionally engaged within the sheath of one of the first-named cups in whioh said other cup nests.

3. A garment comprising two spaced breast-supporting and forming cups each thereof having an inside sheath extending from the upper part thereof substantially to the center thereof, and two other cups each adapted to nest within one of said first-named cups, and to be removably secured thereto, each of said other cups having a resilient 6 tongue attached to the upper part thereof and extending freely therefrom substantially to the center thereof, and adapted to be received Within the sheath of one of the first-named cups in which said other cup nests.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 195,755 Ferris Oct. 2, 1877 2,442,225 Versoy May 25, 1948 0 2,621,328 Duehnofskey Dec. 16, 1952 2,748,771 Richards June 5, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 200,565 Australia Dec. 7, 1955 

1. A BREAST-SUPPORTING AND FORMING CUP HAVING AN INSIDE SHEATH EXTENDING FROM THE UPPER PART THEREOF SUBSTANTIALLY TO THE CENTER THEREOF, AND ANOTHER CUP ADAPTED TO NEST WITHIN THE FORMER CUP, AND TO BE REMOVABLY SECURED THERETO, SAID OTHER CUP BEING FORMED OF A REINFORCING MATERIAL AND HAVING A TONGUE DISPOSED NEAR THE TOP OF ITS CONVEX SIDE ATTACHED TO THE UPPER PART THEREOF AND EXTENDING FREELY THEREFROM SUBSTANTIALLY TO THE CENTER THEREOF, WITH SAID TONGUE FORMED OF A FLEXIBLE PLASTIC STRIP WITH CORRUGATED EDGES ADAPTED TO FRICTIONALLY ENGAGE THE INSIDE OF SAID SHEATH. 